Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1887-08-26
Letter from Europe.

The last letter from the party con-
sisting of w d. Brandon, Esq, Rev.
w. o. Campbell and others, stated
that were then in England, They
have been in Belgium, France, Ger
many. Switzerland and Italy and are
now doing" Great Britain and will
be home next month A letter from
Rev. Campbell to his brother T. c.
Campbell, Esq. of this place, dated
Lucerne, Switzerland, July 81, 1887,
read as follows:
DEAR CHAL:-I have no doubt
that you have heard through w. DIS
letters of the progress we have been
making in our journey. but few
words from me may not be unaccept-
ibie. Indeed since leaving the
ocean our time has been so wholly
occupied in seeing the sights that We
have had little time to write letters.
| think we all feel that our lett.rs are
not very satisfactory, for it would be
impossible to describe the best things
We have seen or TO give an adequate
idea of the impression they have
made on our minds, we discover that
it is necessary for us to revise the
crude opinions we had formed of
some of the countries through which
we have passed. For example, |
have never had very high opinion
of the people of Belgium, indeed they
had never engaged my attention to
any very considerable extent. Since,
however, We have travelled by rail
through that little country, and have
seen their uniformly good farms,
the modes of pains-taking and
thorough work which every where
met our eyes, since we have seen
their splendid roads as smooth and
solid as floor, since we have been
in the magnificent city of Brussels,
the capital of the country, have ob-
served its great cleanliness / do not
not know of an American city that
is SO clean), have seen its great build
ings, have ridden over its splendi d
boulevaris, have been in its beautiful
parks in which it allows the poorest
the utmost desirable freedom, have
been in it's senatorial halls, have seen
the residences it provides for its
princes and ministers of state, we have
come to think very respectfully of
the people of Belgium.
So too, highly as we had thought
of Germany, | think we all have
little more respect for it now than we
had few weeks ago. The one
thing that has impressed me more
than any other, in regard to the Ger
man people, is their indomitable en-
ergy, their capacity and disposition
for doing humble works in most
patient, thorough way. Along side
of the beauty of the Rhine cou ntry
we must put its cultivation. They
have made their vines and their grain
to grow on the most inaccessible
slopes of the Rhine valley. There
seems to be hardly any soil that could
be reached by a man climbing on his
hands and knees that has not been
made to produce something for bis
support. Each hillside with it's min
gled vines and grains, with their diff
ferent shades of green or gold, not
separated by any fences, (for there
are none) but arranged with the ut
most regularity, looks like piece of
mosaic So it is all through this
country, in Switzerland where we
now are, as we'll as in Germany. 1t
makes quite q strong impression on
one coming from America where there
is SO much land going to waste. to
see these people outstanding the
strength cf every ravine aud bill
and mountain side, actually, as we
have seer, tying or pinning the soil
on with ropes or poles to keep it in
wet weather, from slipping away from
them
OF course the beauty of the things
we have seen | cannot describe, nor
would | attempt it Yesterday on
Lake Luccrne, was day never to be
forgotten. The general arrangement
of this Alpine country is a success
sion of immense banks some $500 or
5000 feet high, built of rocks more or
less soft, rock that yields with con-
siderable readiness to the Influence of
water and weather; and on their
on these banks, generally a consider
able distance from their edge, are set
immense granite peaks. So distant
are they from the edge of the banks
on which they are built that general
ly they can barely be seen from the
lakes or the valleys; now and then
one comes to the edge and peeps over.
But the banks themselves, and all the
countless crests of the lower hills are
covered with grass. and trees. and
berries, and among them nestles tho
humble but at raciive cottages of the
Swiss. and altogether you have pie
ture indiscribably beautiful. All this
we saw yesterday as we rowed over
the beautiful lake of Lucerne, aud
had enough of the mountain peaks
with all their grandeur thrown in, to
speak to US of the majesty and
eternal righteousness of God, and to
make US, if We are as thankful as We
shonld ho somayhat hptter man than